Oscar Nominations 2012

I haven’t yet read any articles commenting on the nominees or any snubs, but I did note a headline stating that Hugo leads with 11 nominations, followed by 10 for L’artiste (The Artist). Both are nominated in major categories (Best Film, Best Director), but L’artiste also has two acting nominations, while Hugo scores more in the technical/sound/visual categories.

Pina (Germany) did not make it onto the Best Foreign Language Film list, but it does appear in the Best Documentary category. Although my foreign language film vote definitely goes to Jodái-e Náder az Simin, that does feel like a bit of a cop-out: it would have been nice to see a documentary vying something other than, uhm, ‘best documentary’.

With Une vie de chat and Chico & Rita that is a more interesting list than the Golden Globes one – glad to see that at least some of the Academy Awards voters are actually interested in animations, and not just from Disney, Dreamworks or Pixar either. Whether either Une vie de chat or Chico & Rita actually stand a chance to win is a whole other question of course. (Bonus Link: June Thomas, of Slate, makes the case why Chico & Rita should win.)

Quite a mixed bag of films, some of which will definitely not win (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close? I really don’t think so.). Snubs: no love for Melancholia or Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Artist Written by Michel HazanaviciusBridesmaids Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen WiigMargin Call Written by J.C. ChandorMidnight in Paris Written by Woody Allen
جدایی نادر از سیمین (Jodái-e Náder az Simin/A Separation) Written by Asghar Farhadi

Another nomination for Jodái-e Náder az Simin! I’m thrilled by this – I don’t think there was a single superfluous word in that script. Of course, I am judging on the basis of subtitles – which kind of makes me wonder, how to you judge a translated script? The nomination seems to be for Farhadi, no mention that there is translation involved anywhere. And I’m the one putting original titles here, not the Academy Awards. This isn’t surprising – in the field of Translation Studies we call this the ‘translator’s invisibility’. Are there any awards anywhere for subtitlers or dubbers (joint with the original scriptwriter perhaps)?

And: Does the script of Jodái-e Náder az Simin stand a chance? Hard to tell, but again, I think not a word (or scene) was out of place in this film – that’s script novice filmmakers and scriptwriters should study for a superbly tight plot.

Bonus: The film poster for 津波そして桜 (Tsunami soshite sakura/The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom). It wasn’t out last time I mentioned the film in Trailer Weekly #13. Very pretty – wish I had a copy to put up in my room!